Making A House Hunting Wish List

First off, my cheeky hubby has decided he’s deserving of a public “you were right.” So here it is. Check out this video from a year ago where he calls that we’ll move someday while I vehemently deny it (skip to 5 minutes and 45 seconds). Who’s married to a know it all? This girl (points to self with thumbs).

Before I climbed on the moving bandwagon UHaul with my smarty pants spouse, we rethought a bunch of potential layout adjustments to this house and even entertained the idea of an addition instead (which we also tossed out as an option in the above video over a year ago). But the fact that the already-here part of our home isn’t very flexible (the layout would have to stay pretty much the same) made us realize that an addition wouldn’t change things about the existing layout and allow us as much function and potential as an entirely new house would. So I slowly started to come around. But the revelation hardly happened overnight. Here’s my range of emotions over the last half of a year of so:

No! I love it here. I’ll die here. You’ll have to pry this house out of my cold dead hands. Wait. More projects? More function? I am kind of a function freak. I’ll think about it. Nope, I don’t care. We got married here! We can’t just abandon our beloved house. Grr, I wish we just had one more bedroom and a full second bath instead of a half bath. What about an addition? Hmm, you’re right, that’s not going to work. But I love it here! We love it here! It’s our home! Well, I am kind of bored. Are you bored? Fine, you might be right. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pantry? Oh don’t play the Clara card. Fine, I agree that it would be an amazing thing for our family. And we wouldn’t be bored anymore. And it would be fun for the blog since we’d have a million new projects to share. Geez louise. Am I actually considering this? I am? Fine. I’m in. Let’s do this crazy thing! Wanna go house hunting after dinner?

I’m one of those people. I can fight something with every fiber of my being, but once I decide to go for it I’m 100% in. No more fluctuating or hemming and hawing. It’s like I run a full body scan about how I feel for a few months by playing devil’s advocate to be sure it’s really what I want. And then I submit with boundless puppy-like enthusiasm.

So that’s how we got here. As for what we’re looking for, we basically have a good amount of living space in this house (a sunroom, a den, a living room, a kitchen, a dining area, a front porch, a back patio) but we only have three very small bedrooms on the other side of the house. So with a baby, a need for a full time two person office, and a bedroom for ourselves we’re bursting at the seams. And we realize that with a future kid (or kids) on the agenda in a few years it’ll definitely get even tighter. It’s amazing how when we moved in just four and a half years ago we didn’t use either of the two spare bedrooms and now we work/play/sleep guests in one and sleep our baby in the other. It’s just funny how things change.

Which is why we’re gonna go for a McMansion this time. Something along these lines:

Just kidding. Of course we’re looking for another humble and modestly sized seen-better-days home – with maybe two full bathrooms instead of one and a half and one more bedroom, but nothing too insane. We’d hate to clean a huge house anyway. We’re more in the market for a home with just a bit more space than we currently have (which adds up to around 1700 square feet counting the sunroom and the basement, which aren’t heated and cooled, which is why our house is labeled as 1350 finished square feet). To have room for another bambino someday would be grand. And a wee bit more breathing room would be nice in the meantime – especially since we live and work from home, so we’re here nearly 24/7. Oh and the idea of two showers instead of one thrills us to no end. You know, so we can renovate one while using the other (instead of hosing John down outside in sub zero temperatures like we did when we tackled our current bath redo).

And of course we’re looking for a different layout since we mentioned that part of the reason an addition wasn’t the answer to “saving” this house because the existing floor plan isn’t quite doing it for us anymore. Speaking of the layout, here’s what we’d love in the next house (we don’t think we’ll get all of these features in one house, but it’s nice to map them all out and hopefully find something with a good amount of them):

Easy access from the kitchen to a BBQ/eating area on a patio or back deck (right now we walk through the den, laundry nook, sunroom and then go down stairs and all the way across our patio to get to the table and the grill- which is probably why we hardly ever eat outside)

A kitchen that we can expand into a family room (yay for knocking down walls) with a big island for kids to do homework and a cozy sectional in the seating area beyond. We’ve always loved the idea of creating a place where a lot of our friends and family can gather (and being able to accommodate everyone in one big room would be awesome).

A pantry. That would just be fun since we’ve been using two kitchen cabinets as a pantry for so long. We’d feel like royalty with a pantry to call our own.

Four bedrooms (or three bedrooms and an office) of which at least three bedrooms are on one floor. Since the fourth room can be devoted to an office it doesn’t need to be near the other three – but if we have two kids someday we’ll want a way to keep their rooms and our bedroom on the same level while they’re in that young don’t-leave-them-up-to-their-own-devices stage.

High ceilings would be amazing, but that might just be a pipe dream. Consider this bullet “icing on the cake” territory.

We’re definitely open to all home types (colonials, split levels, bungalows, another ranch, etc). Just as long as it’s nice and old and not too monstrous in size. Who knows where we’ll actually end up. But speaking of the age of the house, here are some of our non negotiable must haves:

Built a nice long time ago (we just love an old home with character and eons of potential behind all those dated decorating decisions of yore)

Located in a walkable neighborhood (our long evening walks keep all four of us happy and sane)

Within our budget (duh)

Great schools (Clara’s education is the most important thing in the end)

A safe and well loved neighborhood (the reasoning behind the word “safe” is obvious, and the “well loved” thing just means that even if our house needs help we’d love to be on a block with a few homes that have already been spruced up, so we don’t risk over-improving our house for a crumbling-around-us neighborhood). We’re trying to keep that whole” pick-the-worst-house-in-the-best-neighborhood” thing in our head.

We’re also looking for a house just like this one was (totally livable and safe for us to work on it as we went) as opposed to a falling down house that needs months of work to make it habitable. You know cause we have a baby and a dainty-ish small dog. Plus updating kitchens and bathrooms and making other cosmetic changes while we live there is the sweet spot for us anyway.

Beyond our must-haves and our layout like-to-haves, we have a few other would-be-nice features on our list:

A fenced in backyard that’s Burger-ready (of course we can tackle this project if we don’t find one as-is)

A private backyard (we just love ours so much that it might be the hardest thing to leave behind)

A garage (since we have things like mowers and bikes that we’d rather not store inside- although a shed could work too)

We figure we’ll know when we find the one, just like we knew instantly when we walked into this house. And we’ll get to add another key to our key frame. So stay tuned for more house hunting details as we embark on those adventures. Of course we plan to share what we look at and what we like/dislike along the way…

Great question! We have learned all about lead paint (there are tons of websites that can shed some light on the subject) but basically as long as your walls and ceilings aren’t cracking and chipping and you have a fresh seal of paint on the walls it seals the lead in. Basically we plan to have an inspection (which can identify chipped or peeling lead paint hazards) and then paint everything fresh when we move in (for even more “insurance” against the lead paint that will then be layers beneath the surface thanks to the new paint). The only time we worry about it is when we knock down walls, but using plastic sheets to contain renovation dust and then wiping down everything with TSP is the recommended lead paint remediation approach, so we’re very careful and of course will keep Clara and Burger well clear of anything like that!

Oooh! Okay, I’m ready to go house hunting now! {I am coming with you, right?} I just love walking through ‘for sale’ homes and imagining all the possibilities. The only bad part about picking one is not getting to peruse everyone else’s homes anymore. Can’t wait to see what you look at and find. Thanks for sharing.

I knew your guys would have it covered! :) I didn’t realize that lead paint was easy to contain, provided there are no chips/cracks–good to know! Thank you as always for the quick and very informative response!

I’m *totally* the same way when it comes to my thoughts processes. The last big decision like that was made when we decided to get married. One day I wanted nothing to do with it, the next day I was ready to get married IMMEDIATELY! I’m sure the same thing will happen when I decide to have kids (not yet, but I bet it’ll be a complete 180).

Neat! Your list sounds really similar to our list of a year and a half ago. We love our home (’48 brick Cape Cod)! The only thing we didn’t get in the I-really-want-it-but-it’s-not-a-must was a porch, of the Craftsman variety. Oh well. We did end up with a 3 bdm as opposed to a 4, but it has an open, attached-to-the kitchen room which functions as our office. It’s great! We do only have two bedrooms upstairs, but our two kiddos are sharing for now. Also, I hear you in the needs-to-be-livable-while-we-fix-it-up category. We’ve done a lot, but only cosmetically. I’m proud to announce that as of two days ago there is no longer any wallpaper in our home!!! Now to paint . . .

I just wanted to say that I completely understand what you mean about a pantry being high on your list of wants! My husband and I just bought our first home and one of the things I was most excited about was the pantry. I had never lived anywhere with one before (my parent’s house doesn’t even have a pantry!). So yeah, it changed my life. And I know it will change yours too!

we didn’t want to move from our last place, and so we put the (sunroom) addition on, not thinking that it didn’t actually solve the problem we had with the layout of the house (no separate office for this work-from-home girl, only one bathroom, etc.) when we sold two years later, it probably helped sell our house more quickly, because it was different from the competition, but we certainly didn’t get all of that money back.

good for you for thinking it through and making a good decision for you and your family!

A couple of thoughts on your house hunt: watch the age of the mechanicals in the older homes in terms functionality and efficiency. A heater may be old and working but it may cost you a lot more to run. Also, since you have an office in your house the electrical threshhold may be lower than what you use. My home office computers seriuosly inflated my electrical bill and periodically blew fuses. I needed an electrical upgrade since we have more devices. Good luck. I am looking forward to reading about your new house adventures.

actually, i think updating a mcmansion could be kind of fun. imagine– tossing all of the “lowest price at home depot” fixtures and putting some REAL stuff into that house!
(gold tone faucets and beige wall-to-wall carpet spring to mind. shudder. how awful.)

It’s tough to know what you really need in a home until you’ve bought one of your own. Personally, I went from (pre-house), “laundry in the garage isn’t so bad” to (now), “MUST have a laundry room in the next house!” Luckily, I’m not quite in that “forever” home :).

On a side note, I am always amused/amazed when people find their living space too small, especially when it’s of a similar size to your house. Maybe it’s an American thing. I grew up in a two bedroom apartment (not house) where six people lived (including two kids and two grandparents). And it had one bathroom! The only reason we moved is because we relocated to a different country.

that’s funny–one of the questions was about the both of you having a baby and when..clara was born in may right? that would mean you were pregnant in that video? if it was made a year ago? not sure, but i think i may be right. am i?

Well, even though you said that it’s not likely that you will find everything that you need, all in one place- it is!

We house hunted forever… like went so far as to go to a builder to draw up plans because we could not find anything that had “all of our wants & needs”… but just when we were running out of time, and we were just going to settle for renting somewhere, a miracle happened…. (pause for dramatic effect….)

My husband brought cupcakes to the kids’ school, and took a different route home, coincidentally, the road directly across the street from our former, aka current at the time house. He called me at work to say that there was a house for sale by owner near our house (which is a neighborhood that we loved, old houses, yay!). I was like… good… who cares… because at this point, I had completely given up on house hunts. But he called the owner and got her to meet him and give him the tour. He called me back and was like, “you are going to love this!!”

I went to see the house, and absolutely fell in love! We had been looking for: 4 bedrooms, two full baths, hardwoods, lots of windows, fenced yard, flat- with no scary ditch- like you… mostly because our other house was nothing but a hill headed for a nasty ditch with no fence!, we also wanted a living room and a den, and a dining room… not a nook… and guess what?? This house not only had it all, but was about 30,000 less than what we had been looking at! The owners’ parents had it built in 1955, and they had lived there until her mother passed away at the end of last year… so this house was lovingly cared for for 50 years by one family! And now- it’s our dream home.

There was not one thing that we did not like about it, and there was not one thing on our list that was not included. The house was literally across a street from us all along, just waiting! So keep your hopes high! The perfect house is out there waiting to be Petersik casa numero dos!!!!

Though my husband is up there ^ commenting that the wife is always right, he actually won our house battle… somewhat.

I always wanted an old house, while he wanted new construction. I surrendered to the modern floor plans, mostly because of the overlooking-the-family-room island you mentioned. And we absolutely love it. It is so great when we have family over that there is plenty of space for everyone, without hovering in the kitchen. Though I’m still managing to do some tweaking :)

So even if you guys aren’t hardcore looking (since you have to sell Casa Petersik #1), based on your online searching, are you seeing a lot of possibilities? Or is it tough to find basically the equivalent of your old house (habitable but not updated)?

I had a very similar list when I was looking for my first house and then my current one since I wanted to do updating myself while maintaining the original character. I got lucky both times, but here in Austin, it’s getting very hard to find homes in a similar state. Either they’re all original but not well-maintained or someone went in and threw up some cheap (or even expensive) “fixes” that you feel wasteful removing.

Yes! Based on our perusal of MLS and craigslist.org, there are actually a ton of homes that have tons of potential and not much updating. The hard part is finding them in a good school district with flat yards and some of the other things we’re looking for (three bedrooms on one floor, etc). We’re confident we’ll know when we see “it” though! Stay tuned…

As someone who is going through the house hunt right now, I wish you both good luck. I’m not sure how the Virginia market is, but Michigan is the best of times and the worst of times.

I’m as adventurous as you guys are, my wife is a bit more – reserved – so we’re looking at more modern houses. But there’s something to be said for finding a nice older home that’s stood the test of time, rolling up your sleeves, and getting to work. A man (and woman) and their house – it’s a beautiful thing!

I would punch a Shetland pony for a pantry. (Okay, not really. Those things are bitey and will fight back.)

But seriously, what did the original Mr. and Ms. 1950’s Cape Cod do with their food? Did they put the dishes on the floor? Stack cans in the coat closet? It’s really the main thing making me insane about my tiny house.

When you made the comment about hosing John down outside, I couldn’t help but picture the scene in, “Fun With Dick and Jane” when they bathe in the neighbors sprinkler system.

I totally understand what you mean about not wanting to leave your home. We bought our tiny cape cod (just under 900 sq. ft., yikes!) 2 months before we got married. I moved in with the attitude of, “it’s just a starter home, we’ll only be here for a few years!” Now, we have added a baby boy to the mix and desperately need the extra space, but I can’t seem to part with this house! Luckily, we are finishing the basement, so that offers another 600 sq. ft. for a family room/playroom. We feel content now, but if more baby beans (distant future) come along, we will most definitely have to relocate.

C’mon over to Hanover! We have land, cheap homes, Blue Ribbon schools… and TOMATOES! hahahah… I grew up out by the airport, then moved to Short Pump.. and now we are in Hanover, and this is the place to be for us!

We hope to negotiate a closing date that’s two or three months off so if we get an offer on our house we still have two or three months to find a home that we love so we won’t be without a place to call our own!

This is not exactly related, but have you guys seen this? You can see all the websites that have pictures of you or your house on them. It seems like a good way to see if someone is putting your house up for rent or claiming your work as theirs!

Oh, and watch out for a decent electricity layout and nail-able walls when buying an old house! Most people forget that those basic things can be surprising…
The house I grew up in was quite old, partially straw and wool (!) instead of bricks or wood in the walls etc, and our electric cable layout was awful. These cables are supposed to be only at right angles so you can easily guess where you can hammer a nail in the wall. Ours weren’t. And that wool-in-the-walls resulted in nearly no longtime nails at all.

And check whether the floor is actually horizontal. Our cats had fun chasing marbles that rolled away all on their own… so some toy glass marbles might be a good investment ;)

Wow, your list is like the definition of our “new” (May) house – except my new hubs and I don’t have your guys’ skilz, so we’re overwhelmed with our 2,700 sq. foot rambler on an acre lot. Too bad you aren’t interested in relocating to Kansas City :)

So I remember seeing your key thing in a magazine and I wanted to do it, way before I found your blog! I’ve only been following here for maybe a month or 2 now, and just today realized it was you! So funny!

We certainly wouldn’t rule out a sunroom or an outdoor cooking area- they both sound fun (but neither is really a true necessity). We adore our current sunroom but we know they’re hard to come by, so as long as we have a family room that gets lots of nice sunlight we’ll probably be happy!

“Staying within our budget” is not a “duh” item for far too many people. You should thank your frugal dads once again for the great financial education they gave you. Best of luck with the house hunt! Looking forward to tagging along virtually.

So, question from a hopeful future homebuyer (and one who will never buy a new home again!). I’m with you on the wanting an older home in an established neighborhood. But, can you help me understand your thinking about the 1960’s or earlier? Curious what you see in the 50’s & 60’s that makes it much more appealing than the 70’s-90’s?

That is totally a personal preference thing! To us, after you get into the mid seventies to the early 80’s the houses just feel to new to us! Probably because we’re so used to our 50+ year old brick ranch so things like old hardwood flooring and brick exteriors along with large established tress just woo us to no end.

My neighborhood, built in the early 70’s, is family oriented (neighborhood picnic each 4th of July with games for kids, parents and both together). It also has a 60 acre lake with a beach, a boat launch and kids playground ( 2 other parks), and mature trees. Since many residents have lived here since the neighborhood was built (not necessarily in the same house) the homes are constantly being upgraded. A lot of families stay in the neighborhood and buy a different house as their needs change. The schools are good and walkers and bikers are constantly out exercising and chatting with neighbors. The home style is more contemporary than the traditional brick you find in most Virginia subdivisions.

Best of all Lowes and Home Depot and Target are within 5 miles.

Too bad you live in Richmond – this neighborhood is in Virginia Beach. Took me forever to find it too!

I just hope you guys don’t go all Kate Gosselin on us and buy a super giant house because it’s really hard to take her seriously after that.

Just kidding, I can’t imagine you guys going that route! Good luck on your house search. I know that after buying our first home and living in it, we have such a better idea of what we want in our next home too.

I would add a layout that separates entertainment and sleeping areas. Our baby daughter’s room is right off the dining and living room and we find ourselves watching movies with subtitles on just to make sure we don’t wake her up! It’s funny how differently you see your house after you have kids!

Ok….I swear I’m not a crazy person (great way to begin a comment huh?) I love looking at real estate and I love your blog so I thought I would look around a little. I don’t know your exact area, just that your near Richmond so that’s where I was looking. I came across this little gem and thought I would pass it along. It seems to have a LOT of what your looking for and with 3 acres. Hope your search is going well!!